Flick: The Mist

Houstonist has been waiting 22 years for a movie version of The Mist. Our prayers have finally been answered. Note: the last time we got our prayers answered, Point of Impact was brought the screen in the form of Shooter. Let's hope The Mist delivers more betterer than that film.

King first published The Mist in 1980 as a submission for a horror anthology called Dark Forces being compiled by his friend, Kirby McCauley. The novella was received by a wider audience when it was included in King's collection of his own works, Skeleton Crew, in 1985.

King was battling writer's block at the time he wrote the story. He'd completed Carrie, Salem's Lot and The Shining but was stuck. Inspiration struck as he passed a small town market with windows all across the front. He thought, "What would happen to a small town market if something catastrophic happened?"

The answer is:

David Drayton (Thomas Jane - 61*) and his young son Billy are among a large group of terrified townspeople trapped in a local grocery store by a strange, otherworldly mist. David is the first to realize that there are things lurking in the mist…deadly, horrifying things…creatures not of this world. Survival depends on everybody in the store pulling together…but is that possible, given human nature? As reason crumbles in the face of fear and panic, David begins to wonder what terrifies him more: the monsters in the mist—or the ones inside the store, the human kind, the people that until now had been his friends and neighbors? In this legendary tale of terror from master storyteller Stephen King, the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away, the masks are discarded, and the true horror is revealed as us.

The novella was adapted for the screen and directed by Frank Darabont who has already done the same with The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Darabont shot the film over a 37 day period in Louisiana. The director credited Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later with inspiring the frenetic pace of the film. Darabont also adjusted the ending of the story, which King agreed could stand some improvement.

When asked what he likes about Darabont's work, King replied, "The thing about Frank that I've always liked is that he has a child's imagination coupled with an adult's ability to execute his vision. Frank wrote a new ending that I loved. It is the most shocking ending ever and there should be a law passed stating that anybody who reveals the last 5 minutes of this film should be hung from their neck until dead.”

That sounds like a resounding endorsement to us. The cinematic version of Stephen King's novella hits screens in wide release one week from today. See you in the popcorn line.